1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel container containing a fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, remarkable progress and development have been achieved in small-sized electronic devices such as mobile telephones, notebook-type personal computers, digital cameras, wristwatches, personal digital assistances (PDAs) and electronic diaries. As a power source of each electronic device, there is used a primary battery such as an alkaline dry battery or a manganese dry battery, or a secondary battery such as a nickel-cadmium storage battery, a nickel-hydrogen storage battery or a lithium-ion battery. However, if verified in respect of effective use of energy, the primary battery and the secondary battery do not necessarily effectively utilize the energy. Thus, nowadays, research and development are actively conduced on a fuel battery capable of energy use with high efficiency to replace the primary battery and the secondary battery.
A fuel battery described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-93551 comprises a fuel battery main body in which an electrolytic plate is sandwiched between a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode, and a fuel container which contains a mixture of a liquid fuel such as methanol and water and which is connected to the fuel battery main body. If the fuel container becomes empty, it can be replaced with a new fuel container.
In such a container which contains the liquid fuel for the fuel battery, one outlet is formed, from which the mixed solution of the liquid fuel and water is supplied. However, when it is desired to separately supply the liquid fuel and water, water and the liquid fuel need to be separately contained. In that case, two containers need to be prepared for the liquid fuel and water. Alternatively, a space in one container needs to be divided into two spaces, so that water is contained in one space while the liquid fuel is contained in the other space. In both cases, a water outlet and a liquid fuel outlet have to be separately connected to the fuel battery main body when the container is attached to the fuel battery main body, and an operation for this may be troublesome. Further, since oxygen is required in addition to the liquid fuel to generate electric energy, an oxygen supply path is needed.
In an unused fuel container, it is preferable to seal the outlet from which the liquid fuel is discharged, in order to maintain a state of preservation and to prevent outside air from flowing into the fuel container and prevent the liquid fuel in the fuel container from flowing out from the outlet. At this time, it is required to efficiently expose the outlet from the fuel container in use.
When such a fuel container is installed in the electronic device, the fuel container is preferably small, and in particular when a plurality of fluids discharged from a plurality of outlets is contained in the fuel container, a volume ratio of the plurality of fluids to a volume of the fuel container is preferably higher.